Research has demonstrated that bright light—particularly blue to green visual range light (480 to 520 nanometers)—shone into the eyes of people will temporarily suppress brain melatonin levels and enhance brain serotonin—resulting in mood elevation for some and wakefulness. Subsequently, for a number of years, bright light shone into the eyes of subjects has been used to elevate the mood of people suffering from winter blues (or in more severe cases, seasonal affective disorder or S.A.D.), or to effect a change of one's circadian rhythm for the purpose of: avoiding jet lag fatigue, easing the transition for shift-change workers, and resetting the circadian clocks of those with delayed sleep phase syndrome, wherein people may lose their solar cues to their circadian rhythms and their wake-sleep cycles gradually become “out of sync” with day-night cycles. Other possible uses of bright light presently being researched include: treatments for premenstrual syndrome, certain sexual dysfunctions, antepartum depression, postpartum depression, other depression conditions, chronic fatigue syndrome, and wakefulness for commercial drivers, military personnel and astronauts. The means for delivering this bright light have included desktop devices, lights mounted on glasses frames, and the brightening of living quarters. Desktop devices require the user to sit in one place for approximately one-half hour per day. Since many people cannot find the time to sit in one place that long each day, compliance suffers. Presently available devices mounted on the frames of eyeglasses allow the user a higher degree of mobility, but are typically heavy and bulky to use. Techniques involving the brightening of entire living quarters are often prohibitively expensive for most users. In addition to the expense involved, the user is “confined to quarters” for a prescribed period each day. Such an inconvenience results in the same poor compliance as seen with desktop devices. In fact, cost has been a barrier for many would be users of known approaches.
What is needed, therefore, are techniques for treating individuals with controlled, high-intensity intensity blue-green light, with a portable device.